The celebrity and professional dancer pairings have been revealed in Strictly Come Dancing's launch show
Most of them are thrilled to see their partners - but there's also one who says, "that's the one I didn't want"
Last year's champion Chris McCausland and Dianne Buswell performed the waltz as their final dance
And Chris's advice to the newbies? "Take the dancing seriously, don't take yourself too seriously"
Keep following us as we bring you all the best bits of the show today - and come back next week for our coverage of the first live show of the series
We've just heard from judge Anton Du Beke.
"I can't wait," he says - referencing a great new desk, great new couples and new professionals.
"This is going to be an epic year," he adds.
As we've mentioned, you've a range of options for watching tonight's show - you can Watch live above, or watch on BBC One or iPlayer.
There is also a signed version of the launch show available on iPlayer with British Sign Language.
Viewers on BBC One and the iPlayer can also watch with audio description and subtitles.
We’re now being introduced to two new professional dancers who will soon be taking to the Strictly dance floor.
All the dancers and judges take part in an elaborate dance routine set in a sunny holiday house - with the newbies making their entry to great fanfare.
American Alexis Warr and Australian Julian Caillon are joining the show, alongside 18 returning professional dancers.
Warr won the US dance programme So You Think You Can Dance in 2022, and has also performed in the US version of Strictly - Dancing With The Stars.
She says it’s “such an honour” to be joining a show she has admired for years.
Caillon, meanwhile, has appeared as a professional on three seasons of Australia's Dancing With The Stars. A former personal trainer, he has also completed two triathlons this year.
"I've watched it for years, especially cheering on all the amazing dancers I know and work with who've been part of it," he says.
We've just had our first five pairings.
Sarah Hadland
Strictly Come Dancing finalist, 2024
Work as hard as you can.
You want to know that you've left everything on the floor and be in the moment. And enjoy it!
Also, you think you're here to learn to dance and you will - but more than that, you'll learn about yourself and you may be surprised.
I came to realise that it was me who was setting the limits on what I could achieve. My partner Vito challenged those limits and I will always be so very grateful to him.
Now keeeep dancing!
New series, new celebrities.
We'll get to know them a little more throughout tonight's show, but they already look right at home in their Strictly glam.
Image source, PA MediaOf course, the show wouldn’t be complete without its hosts and judges.
Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman are back to oversee ballroom proceedings once again - they began hosting the show together back in 2014.
Meanwhile, judges Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse, Anton Du Beke and head judge Shirley Ballas are back with their expertise. But who's going to give the first 10 this year?
Craig is back this year without the beard, but with an opening barb for his fellow judges - quipping that he wouldn't mind still having Covid-era plastic screens separating them.
Image source, BBC/Guy Levy
Rachel Flynn
Live page editor
Image source, BBC/Guy LevyThat Strictly energy is just contagious isn't it.
Strictly professionals have burst onto our screens with a high-octane routine. We are so back!
Image source, BBC/Guy LevySome breaking news now - the Glitterball trophy has gone missing.
Tonight's show opens with a skit featuring of last year's winner Chris McCausland locking the trophy away in a safe - "my baby" he could be heard muttering.
"I'm not giving this back," he announced on Instagram yesterday.
"I worked too hard for this, I earned it fair and square."
Thankfully, after an intervention from Craig, Tess and Claudia manage to reclaim the trophy - although then promptly drop it on the floor.
Let's hope someone's a dab hand with a tube of superglue.
And we're back!
Strictly Come Dancing 2025 has begun.
Join in with us for all the fun of the launch show - or follow along yourself by clicking Watch live above.
You can also watch along on iPlayer and BBC One.
There’ve been a spate of controversies over the past year, relating to the behaviour of some on the programme.
Professional dancers Giovanni Pernice and Graziano Di Prima left the show last year following complaints about their behaviour towards their dance partners in earlier series.
Allegations of verbal bullying and harassment against Pernice were upheld, the BBC understands, but other claims of physical aggression were not. Meanwhile a spokesperson for Di Prima confirmed he kicked celebrity partner Zara McDermott once during rehearsals, which led to his removal from the show.
The BBC’s director general apologised to contestants, with the organisation announcing “additional steps to strengthen welfare and support” on the show.
In January, Welsh opera singer and 2024 contestant Wynne Evans apologised for making what he described as an "inappropriate and unacceptable" comment during the Strictly live tour launch earlier that month.
He left the tour, and in May said he wouldn’t be returning to his BBC Radio Wales show after the broadcaster "decided not to renew" his contract.
EastEnders star Jamie Borthwick was suspended by the BBC in June for using a slur against people with disabilities on the Strictly set in November 2024. The Sun on Sunday newspaper reported that he apologised for "any offence and upset".
And in August, the BBC and the Metropolitan Police launched separate investigations into allegations of drug use on Strictly Come Dancing. No one has been named in relation to these allegations.
Guy Lambert
Entertainment reporter
Labelled by some as one of the more divisive contestants, former Apprentice star and social media personality Thomas Skinner was criticised after leaving a Strictly press event early.
Skinner later “set the record straight”, explaining he had seen a message about "a personal story from my past" on a reporter's phone, which "caught [him] off guard".
"I felt it was best to step away and gather myself," he said.
He also apologised for picking up the journalist's phone, saying he didn't want to suggest any bad intentions on their part.
Skinner has got a big social media presence and many fans who praise him for "standing up for traditional, hard-working, family values".
But some have taken issue with Skinner's social media posts, including one with a photo of himself meeting US Vice-President JD Vance this summer, and another of him wearing a Make America Great Again cap.
Despite criticism from some corners, BBC Director General Tim Davie has defended the decision to cast Skinner in this year's show.
This year's Strictly, as always, has a star-studded line up - here's the cast list in full:
The original line up also featured Game of Thrones star Kristian Nairn, but he later pulled out due to health reasons - and was replaced by Lewis Cope.
The Strictly trophy will be passed on to another star at the end of this series, but until then, it is held by comedian Chris McCausland.
He was the first blind contestant to appear on the show, and lifted the glitterball trophy last year, beating JLS singer JB Gill, actress Sarah Hadland and former Love Islander Tasha Ghouri in the final.
McCausland said his win was for dance partner Dianne Buswell, "and for everyone out there who's got told they couldn't do something or thought they couldn't do it".
"It just shows with opportunity and support and determination, anything can happen," he said.
One of their dances included a “blackout moment”, which you can watch in our last post. It was designed to imitate McCausland's experience with blindness. It soon went viral on social media, and they recreated it for the final.
Strictly Come Dancing celebrated its 20th year last year, with iconic moments, dances and outfits galore.
Let's remind ourselves of some of the memorable moments from last year.
Dr Punam brought Bollywood music to the ballroom
Image source, BBC/Guy LevyFor the first time in the show's 20-year history, TV doctor Punam Krishan and her partner Gorka Márquez performed to a traditional Bollywood song.
"I never saw Indian girls dancing on mainstream television, so to be doing now, an Indian dance, on a platform like Strictly, it's huge," she said.
JB Gill shimmied to the top of the leaderboard, despite partner change
Image source, BBC/Guy LevyJB Gill was the first contestant in Strictly history to switch partners during the competition. His partner Amy Dowden pulled out with a foot injury after week six.
But by week 12, Gill and new partner Lauren Oakley scored their first perfect score with a salsa. They even made it to the final - finishing as runners up.
Montell and Johannes' Carnival joy
Image source, BBC/Guy LevyGladiators star and former athlete Montell Douglas and partner Johannes Radebe brought Carnival joy to the the dancefloor, with an Afro-Caribbean fusion to represent the pair's backgrounds.
Dancing to Skeleton Move by Master KG, it scored 39 in week five, with judge Motsi Mabuse saying the pair "exploded with energy".
Chris McCausland's 'spectacular' blackout dance moment
McCausland and his professional dancer partner Dianne Buswell - who went on to be crowned winners - performed in complete darkness as a way of highlighting the everyday challenges faced by blind and visually impaired people.
The Liverpudlian comedian, who lost his sight to retinitis pigmentosa in his 20s and 30s, was the first blind contestant to take part in the competition.
The often hard-to-impress Craig Revel Horwood described the "poignant blackout moment" as "absolutely spectacular".
You may be a seasoned professional spectator of Strictly, or this could be your first time. Either way, let’s break down the format.
Fifteen celebrities are each partnered with a professional dancer. Every week, they will perform a routine which will be scored by the panel of judges.
Tonight is the launch show, which is when the pairings for this season are revealed. After that is the first live show, where all celebrities and their partners will take to the floor. The judges will score them, but there's no public vote and so no couple will be eliminated.
After that, each week all couples will dance, get scored by the judges, and the public have the chance to vote for their favourites.
The voting on Strictly Come Dancing combines both the judges scores and the public votes, meaning no couple is automatically safe.
The two pairs with the lowest combined scores compete in a dance-off. The judges will decide, based off that dance alone, who will stay and who will go home.
There are special weeks to look forwards to, including movie night and a live show from the Blackpool Tower Ballroom.
By the time of the grand finale, there will be only four couples left - they'll go up against each other, performing three routines each. The judges' pick, a show dance, and their favourite dance from the series.
The winner of the glitterball trophy will be decided by a public vote.
On tonight's show, it will be revealed who this year's 15 celebrities will be paired up with.
They'll each come face-to-face with their professional dance partner in a series of specially-filmed, surprise-packed sequences.
We'll also see a group dance where the newly formed couples take to the Strictly dance floor for the very first time.
Last year's winners - comedian Chris McCausland and Dianne Buswell - will make a return to the dance floor, and there'll be a performance from pop superstar Jessie J.
Have you just finished sorting your takeaway order? Or are you ironing out your sparkliest dress ready for Strictly's return?
We'd love to hear about your set-up for tonight's show. Get in touch in the following ways:
In some cases a selection of your comments and questions will be published, displaying your name and location as you provide it unless you state otherwise. Your contact details will never be published.
There are 20 professional dancers taking part this year - with 15 partnering up with a celebrity to teach them their moves throughout the series.
Former dancer Kevin Clifton has said there are always more dancers than contestants to help with group dances and to cover in case of injuries.
Much loved professional Amy Dowden is returning this year, after having to pull out midway through the 20th anniversary series due to an injury. She missed the previous series after being diagnosed with breast cancer.
The full professional dancer cohort includes:
Rachel Flynn
Live page editor
The leaves outside are turning red, summer clothes have been packed away, and a Saturday night in has never looked more appealing.
It can only mean one thing - Strictly Come Dancing is back! For a few hours a week we can swap life's stresses for a cha-cha-cha and a bit of armchair critiquing.
Here on the news desk in London, we're ready to do just that. We'll be covering every leap, loss and stumble - and you'll be able to watch live at the top of the page come 18:40 BST.
We'll even be sharing some words of wisdom from one of last year's Strictly finalists.
I for one am buzzing - let's get to it shall we?
